Abreu brings big arm to Astros bullpen

Lefthander J.A. Happ is three weeks older and three minor league starts wiser than when he last took the mound for the Astros.

Happ will take the mound againstface the San Francisco Giants tonight at AT&T Park. His most recent outing for the Astros was a four-inning, six-run beating by the Milwaukee Brewers on Aug. 5. That left Happ at 4-14 with a 6.26 ERA, prompting the Astros to option him to Class AAA Oklahoma City.

Happ has averaged 4.75 walks per nine innings. Constantly working behind in the count, he pitched defensively and often seemed to expect the worst.

“Obviously, I didn’t want to go down,” Happ said. “I’d rather I didn’t, but the fact was that’s what was going on and that’s what I was told to do. People say, ‘If you have a rough start, take that night to be upset, and then you’ve got to forget about it.’ I took that day to be upset and then did the best I could to focus. I tried to change my attitude. Maybe being away allowed me to do that.

“They wanted me to go down and work on things. That’s kind of what I did. Sometimes the problems were physical and mental, so I tried to work on both.”

Happ, 28, went 1-0 with a 1.50 ERA in three starts at Oklahoma City, allowing 11 hits and nine walks with 16 strikeouts in 18 innings. In his most recent start on Sunday against Iowa, Happ allowed one hit and three walks in seven scoreless innings.

“I tried to go down there and clear my head as much as possible,” Happ said. “I tried to stay committed to being positive. I think that’s going to help. I think that (negativity) hurt me a lot this year. We’ll see. That, and getting ahead in the count.”

Astros manager Brad Mills said hehad a good talk with Happ on Thursday.

“He felt that he was able to throw strikes earlier in the count down there, and he’s looking forward to doing that here,” Mills said. “Getting ahead, he feels like he’ll be able to use all of his pitches.”

Abreu brings live arm

Juan Abreu was at a mall in Oklahoma City shopping for shirts when he got the call he was going to the major leagues.

From his agent.

The Astros hadn’t been able to reach him at that point because one of his phones was broken. Abreu took a taxi to the ballpark and got the official word from Oklahoma City Redhawks manager Tony DeFrancesco.

“I’m very excited,” Abreu said.

Abreu, 26, was one of four players the Astros acquired in the July 31 trade that sent center fielder Michael Bourn to the Atlanta Braves. In 57 2⁄3 innings combined at Class AAA Gwinnett and Oklahoma City, Abreu has 34 walks and 77 strikeouts to go with a 2.18 ERA. The 6-0, 180-pound Abreu has 204 walks and 405 strikeouts in 338 innings in the minors.

In other words, radar guns start buzzing and humming when Abreu pitches. He said he has had his fastball clocked as high as 101 mph.

“I focus on the glove,” Abreu said. “I know I can throw the ball as hard as I can, and that’s what I do. I don’t think about anything.

Astros manager Brad Mills said heforesees using Abreu in sixth- and seventh-inning situations, at least at the outset.

“He’s aggressive and comes after hitters,” Mills said. “He has shown a very live arm. He does have some command problems in the past, but we’re hoping with his velocity and how he throws, he’ll be able to overcome that to an extent and be able to throw like he’s capable.”

Mills’ glass half-empty

Astros manager Brad Mills grudgingly spent the early part of Thursday at the phone store. He had to replace his cell phone after a mishap on the team flight out of Denver on Wednesday evening.

Still stewing from having been swept in three games by the Colorado Rockies, Mills had shut off his phone and stuck it in his shirt pocket when he hoisted a drink — non-alcoholic. It was mix of pomegranate juice and an energy drink.

“The glass had a slice from almost top to bottom,” Mills said.

His shirt was soaked. His pocket was flooded.And his phone was ruined.

“Absolutely unbelievable,” Mill said, shaking his head.

Martinez or Sanchez?

With the pitcher due to hit fourth in the 10th inning of Wednesday’s 7-6 loss to the Rockies, Astros manager Brad Mills had rookie J.D. Martinez ready to pinch-hit. When Brian Bogusevic delivered a two-out double, Mills decided to use Angel Sanchez instead. Sanchez grounded out to second base, and the Rockies scored the winning run in the bottom of the inning on a wild pitch by Aneury Rodriguez.

“If there was a man on first, (Martinez) was going to hit,” Mills said. “ If somebody was in scoring position, it was going to be Sanchez. J.D. just hasn’t pinch-hit here at the major league level. Putting him in that role, expecting him to get a hit, I don’t know if that’s really fair. Sanchez has done a really good job getting some big pinch hits for us.”

Reliever on rehab

The Astros have sent righthanded reliever Enerio Del Rosario (shoulder strain) on a medical rehabilitation assignment to Class AAA Oklahoma City. He pitched an inning for the Astros’ Gulf Coast rookie team on Wednesday, allowing a run on two hits with two strikeouts and a hit batsman.